RPA vendor UiPath has launched a new training portal built specifically for channel partners, offering educational content used by the company's internal teams; more channel news.

Robotic process automation vendor UiPath aims to get partners up to speed faster on its offerings and boost time-to-revenue rates with a partner-specific training portal.

The New York-based RPA software provider this week launched UiPath Academy for Partners. Partners previously had access to UiPath Academy, the company's free online RPA training platform. The new UiPath RPA training site differs from UiPath Academy in that it provides more role-based training, offering the same content made available to UiPath sales people and account teams. The partner training site is built into UiPath's Business Partner Portal and available free of charge. Partners can continue to access UiPath Academy, as well.

Tom Clancy

UiPath Academy for Partners offers training geared toward pre-sales, sales and delivery roles, noted Tom Clancy, senior vice president of UiPath Learning. "We take the same exact role-based training for our own employees and now make it available to our partners," he said.

UiPath has more than 2,000 partners worldwide. UiPath Business Partners include managed service providers (MSPs) and systems integrators. The company also works with technology partners that provide products that integrate with UiPath RPA software.

Clancy said partners want to get their employees working productively with UiPath's offerings as quickly as possible. The company's product set, he noted, has grown beyond its core RPA technology. For example, the company last year rolled out its UiPath Explorer product line, which provides process mining and analytics.

As our product line becomes deeper and wider … it just means we need to be more efficient in getting people up to speed.
Tom ClancySenior vice president of UiPath Learning, UiPath

"As our product line becomes deeper and wider … it just means we need to be more efficient in getting people up to speed," Clancy said.

Cherlyn Chin

Faster learning translates into "faster time to revenue for partners," said Cheryln Chin, global vice president of systems integrators at UiPath. She noted the partner-specific training also offers competitive differentiation through advanced implementation and deployment skills.

With that in mind, UiPath offers new training content to partners at the same time it's available to the UiPath sales team, Clancy added.

UiPath's partner training portal also provides content around RPA use cases and how they apply to specific industries and vertical market segments, according to Chin. She said that content supports pre-sales and sales enablement for partners.

Virtana reports channel sales momentum

Hybrid infrastructure management vendor Virtana said it significantly ramped up its channel sales last year.

The company, which rebranded from Virtual Instruments in August 2019, said it experienced about 50% growth in its channel-led business over the last 12 months. In addition, Virtana's cloud services business grew by 50%, the company said.

Sheen Khoury

"One of the key reasons that we started to see this [growth rate in channel sales] is the way the product has been delivered to the market," said Sheen Khoury, executive vice president of global sales at Virtana, based in San Jose, Calif.

Virtana retooled its portfolio last year with a new channel-focused licensing approach. As part of the initiative, the company introduced WisdomPacks, integrated packages designed for partners to address specific customer deployments. Other significant changes its portfolio included the launch of a SaaS-based cloud cost optimization and monitoring offering, CloudWisdom, as well as self-service SaaS and downloadable trial versions of Virtana products.

The company said the majority of its 2019 customer acquisitions came from the healthcare, financial services and cloud service provider spaces.

Virtana's go-to-market strategy in 2020 will include working more closely with its top regional and national value-added resellers in multiple regions, Khoury said. Additionally, Virtana aims to expand its channel partnerships around its cloud migration products. Khoury pointed to IT solutions provider Presidio as a prime example of these type of alliances. "We have several other partners … all wrapping their arms around a go-to-market with our CloudWisdom and our cloud migration readiness products," he said.

Khoury said Virtana will also continue to focus heavily on its relationship with Dell Technologies. Virtana participates in the Dell Select Solutions program, which integrates Dell EMC infrastructure with third-party partner products. Dell is one of Virtana's largest customers for its WorkloadWisdom product and has tight integrations with numerous products, he said.

Other news

HCL Technologies, a technology provider based in Noida, India, has unveiled a Microsoft Business Unit, which HCL said will develop intellectual property to extend Microsoft technologies for "customer-specific scenarios." The business unit will also support clients in the financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, retail and travel industries. Last year, Tata Consultancy Services, another global IT services firm based in India, launched its Microsoft Business Unit, focusing on Azure's cloud and edge capabilities. Accenture/Avanade and Infosys have also rolled out similar business units dedicated to Microsoft technology.

Channel partners that have built out AI practices may receive a boost in business. Nearly 90% of the public and private sector companies responding to a Cognilytica Inc. survey said they will have some sort of in-progress AI implementation within the next two years. Cognilytica, an AI market research firm based in Washington, D.C., said respondents cited insufficient quantity or quality of data, followed by limited availability of AI expertise, as the primary barriers to adoption. The latter issue could create an opening for partners.

Progress, an app development and digital experience technology vendor, has rolled out a new global partner program. The Progress Accelerate program offers partner rebates and referral incentives; training and certification; account managed resources; and access to marketing support, among other benefits. Partners can participate in Progress Accelerate within three tiers -- Silver, Gold and Titanium -- based on performance level, Progress said.

Financial planning software provider eMoney Advisor has tapped Anexinet Corp. to extend the software firm's production environment across Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Synergy composable software-defined infrastructure platform. Anexinet, a digital business solutions provider based in Philadelphia, said the new platform provides eMoney with a network infrastructure that aligns with a hybrid IT

CRM platform vendor Pipedrive revised its channel program to have two tiers. The new Affiliate tier is for referral partners, while the Solution Provider tier serves consulting and services firms that market, sell and implement Pipedrive, according to the company.

Cisco augmented its Marketing Velocity resources for partners. Resources include new learning paths on the Marketing Velocity Learning platform. The first of these paths, a seven-module course on developing digital marketing campaigns, has launched. It will be followed in February by a path on building social selling practices, Cisco said.

SolarWinds' remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform now integrates with Kaspersky's endpoint security products. Kaspersky said the integration lets MSPs perform tasks such as monitoring devices, checking for antivirus updates and remotely deploying security to new endpoints, through the RMM software.

Novatech Inc, a business technology company based in Nashville, has launched a Managed Office offering, which provides managed print, managed IT, cloud and cybersecurity services.

Matrix Integration, an IT solution provider based in Jasper, Ind., will host a technology conference Feb. 20 in Louisville, Ky. The TechKNOW summit is expected to attract more than 100 businesses in Kentucky and Indiana. Event sponsors include Cisco and HPE.

HarmonyPSA, a cloud-based professional services automation (PSA) software provider based in London, said it is making its PSA platform available to licensed users as iOS and Android applications. Both are free of charge. The mobile applications offer service desk support, sales capability, certain approval actions and access to assets and knowledge base articles, according to the company.

Exclusive Networks, a cybersecurity and cloud distributor, appointed Scott Lewis as senior vice president of Americas. Prior to Exclusive, Lewis served as vice president of the U.S. West region at Fortinet.

D&H Distributing, based in Harrisburg, Pa., has promoted Trevor May to vice president of purchasing, U.S. and Canada.

CloudKnox Security, a cloud security platform vendor based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has appointed John Donnelly as vice president of sales. In that capacity, he will also lead the company's channel organization.

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